Various types of aerosol packages are presently available. Some are intended for continuous spraying or fogging. Some are provided primarily for upright use. Still others are intended both for upright and inverted use. The nature of the valving supplied with a particular aerosol package depends upon the principle purpose or purposes for which the contents are to be used and the orientation of the container in which the user is likely to use it.
One increasingly important use for aerosols is in the control and eradication of insects, such as fleas. When rooms in homes are to be sprayed for fleas, the preferred practice is to provide a concentrated spray in corners, along edges of the floor, in cabinets and on affected carpet areas. This, of course, requires a spray valve which will discharge intermittent conventional streams or bursts with the container preferably in an inverted position. The treatment of affected areas additionally preferably requires fogging, i.e., the continuous discharge of a substantial portion of a container into an enclosed area, such as in a closed room. Of course, the user should not remain in the area as that is done. Accordingly, special available continuous spray actuator assemblies are available for this purpose.
It is very important that certain minimum amounts of materials to be dispensed from an aerosol container should be dispensed in the continuous mode.
At present, although valving assemblies are available for each of these purposes, there is none readily available which will enable a user to be certain that the minimum amount necessary for effective fogging of a given room area (as pursuant to EPA requirements) will be available after some of the contents have been used for spot or intermittent spraying. To be absolutely certain that a preselected amount will be available, the user must purchase and use two separate containers. Also, because there is no way in which a user can be certain the minimum amount for fogging will be available, labelling requirements restrict the freedom of aerosol insecticide packagers to promote and advertise the efficacy of a single package for combined intermittent and continuous use.
It is with an improved aerosol assembly and package that will automatically provide a positive and readily perceived signal that the remaining portion of the container contents should be discharged in the continuous, fogging mode with which the invention of this application is concerned. As will appear, the invention includes the use of a diptube and an auxiliary hollow tube. In concept and operation it is very different from aerosol assemblies which have double dip tube arrangements, as for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,141,472 and 3,647,119.